War of the Monarchies

This is mostly a "rule of cool" scenario with a deliberately unclear POD, though I chose it early enough to allow for cool stuff like a surviving Tokugawa Shogunate, a Carlist Spain, and a stronger resistance towards colonialism in Africa. Also due to the massive amount of notes I wanted to write for the individual aspects of this map, I didn't put the notes on the map itself but rather here into the description. I apologize for that.

AMERICAS:
1) The Northern Territories of Canada are varying degrees of empty, with Athabaska and Yukon being the ones with a genuine (white) population, though Keewatin has the only usable port.

2) Ottawa was recently spun-off as a distinct territory, inspired by Washington D.C., which the Canadian government hopes will make governing more efficient.

3) The Lincolners aren't super happy with the name of their state anymore, but then again there's no serious contender besides the unimaginative "North Dakota".

4) Sequoyah only exists thanks to the State of Lincoln, which allowed for political equity between Republican and Democratic states. The Native American population here is solidly in the Democratic camp, though Sequoyah Democrats are ideologically closer to the northern Dems instead of the Dixiecrats.

5) Mexico is finally stable after a few years of civil war. The relatively leftist new government is dominated by agrarian interests and tries its hardest to avoid US meddling in the future.

6) Cuba and Puerto Rico were granted widespread autonomy not long after the end of the Second/Third Carlist War. The new system was closely modeled on the British dominions.

7) Gotta love naval bases! As a result of Washington's need to have a secure naval base in the Caribbean the Dominican Republic is kept VERY close.

8) The Panama Canal was built by the French, and is run as a joint venture by the French, British, Americans, and Colombians, who each have 23 percent of the shares. The remaining 8 percent are shared by Brazil, Argentina, Mexico, Germany, Spain, and some private individuals.

9) Bolivia is the richest unaligned nation in South America thanks to a very large mining sector. Tin, silver, zinc, and sulfur are all important exports in that sector. Otherwise Bolivia also exports coffee, sugarcane, and lumber, and the government has been encouraging a move towards expanding the manufacturing sector.

10) The marriage ties between Brazil and Austria-Hungary as well as the drift of Argentina towards the Entente Powers has led to Brazil joining the Imperial Alliance. Rio de Janeiro has the largest fleet within the alliance, and is by far the most liberal member state.

11) Uruguay, like Argentina, has drifted towards the Entente, though primarily due to cultural and commercial ties with Italy. The possibility of eventually expanding northwards would be a nice bonus...

12) The Chilean-Argentinian border is a bit more eastwards, though all in all Chile lost in the Conquest of the Desert.

13) Argentina's claim to the Falklands is one of several reasons why relations between the Entente and the British aren't cozy.

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AFRICA:
1) Yes, Morocco had to cede Casablanca to the French, but it was a small price to pay in exchange for independence. Still, Morocco's economy is firmly dominated by Spanish and French interests.

2) Tunisia is a French client state and not an outright protectorate due to Rome not wanting the local Italian merchant community under French rule.

3) Libya was seized by Italy during the Ottoman collapse. There are still minor Tuareg and Senussi revolts, but nothing that seriously threatens Italian rule.

4) Egypt might officially be aligned with France but the khediv isn't doing anything against the many secret societies which plot against European oppressors.

5) German West Africa mostly exists to placate the German colonialist lobby and France agreed to not contest Berlin's claim to this tiny strip of land.

6) The Mossi Kingdom has proven itself to be hard to subjugate, so Paris eventually stopped trying to integrate it into French West Africa directly and instead made it a protectorate.

7) Adamawa and Sokoto were both quite powerful states but they still fell into the British sphere of influence and eventually became protectorates.

8) Bornu's miltary frontier regions are inhabited primarily by nomadic groups who have pledged allegiance to Kukawa. The few towns in these distant regions serve as garrisons and camel cavalry routinely patrols the borders.

9) Wadai is Bornu's most loyal and most powerful vassal, securing the eastern border and serving as a shield against Darfuri raids.

10) Darfur isn't super popular among its neighbors due to the local sultan doing very little to stop raiders from crossing over to Wadai or French Koush.

11) Koush is a crucial part in France's strategy for keeping Egypt under their control. The various local tribes are quite loyal to Paris but the traditional Arab ruling class seems to sympathize with the secret societies in Egypt...

12) Founded by the Arab slaver and warlord Al-Zubayr Rahma Mansur, the Sultanate of Bahr el Ghazal is now run by his son Suleiman, who acts as a British client. However Suleiman hasn't been as cooperative as the British would like with him not doing enough to stamp out slavery in the country and protect the British-built railway connecting West and East Africa, leading to London pondering whether or not to march in and depose the by now aged Sultan...

13) Ethiopia is a proud Russian ally who doesn't mind having Russia ruling over the Afar tribes next door. 

14) The Somali emirates are too troublesome to rule over directly, however that doesn't stop European traders from setting up shop in the ports.

15) The Spanish Congo is one of three "crown jewels", after the Philippines and Cuba, and while there are some humanitarian concerns over its treatment of the natives, Spanish missionaries are trying to remedy that.

16) Brazil recently integrated the northern part of Angola due to the rather high economic output and a sizable white and mixed population.

17) When Britain seized Mozambique they turned the troublesome Angoche Sultanate into a formal protectorate. Thus far the arrangement works rather well.

18) The decision to integrate Bechuanaland into South Africa seems to have turned out fine thus far.

19) Small, unobtrusive, and plurality white, German Southeast Africa doesn't really bother anyone.

20) The Merina Kingdom survived, albeit as a French protectorate.

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EUROPE & THE MIDDLE EAST:

1) The Kingdom of Portugal exists solely thanks to British backing. Dom Manuel II, King of Portugal, does not however reside in the capital of Ponta Delgada, instead preferring to live in his comfortable domicile in London. In his place a right-wing junta dominated by navy officers runs the show.

2) Mainland Portugal meanwhile is home to the world's first socialist state. Interestingly enough nearby Spain doesn't care for having a republican neighbor despite its own conservative ideology.

3) The Carlists enacted a widespread territorial reform in Spain, leading to the creation of semi-autonomous regions which replaced the old province system. The regions which of course most profited from this are the traditional power bases of the Carlists: Catalonia, Galicia, Aragon, Navarre, the Basque Country, and Valencia.

4) As part of the Franco-German reconciliation process a plebiscite was held in Alsace-Lorraine, which led to the area surrounding Metz to return to France, while the remainder of Alsace-Lorraine was partitioned between Baden (which has since been elevated to a kingdom) and Prussia. Excluding some fringe ultranationalists everyone is happy with this result.

5) Norway has gained independence about 15 years ago and now has a Hohenzollern prince as king. Definitely a pro-Entente neutral.

6) The Hungarian Ausgleich wasn't super popular but it has placated most people in Hungary... Except of course the most conservative ethnic Hungarians.

7) Greater Serbia loves life right now, though having access to an Aegean port would be nice.

8) The Kingdom of Turkey is a shadow of its former Ottoman self. The Arab revolts and Balkan Wars at the beginning of the 20th century have diminished the empire greatly, but now at least Istanbul has fewer minorities to deal with.

9) While the Poles in Austria are a valued part of the nation, the Poles in Russia are marginalized. Petrograd has noticed this and is weighing options.

10) Finland still has its usual autonomy and is actually quite loyal to the Tsar as a result.

11) Kurdistan has decent diplomatic ties to Russia but is far from being an ally.

12) Mesopotamia, like neighboring Persia, has seen a significant English presence, but thus far they've avoided becoming a client to London.

13) Mecca and Medina are under the joint control of the Rashidi caliphate and the autonomous Emirate of Hejaz.

14) Persia is torn between British and Russian interests. If France weren't so far away, they'd consider joining the Entente, but right now it'd likely just anger London or Petrograd.

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ASIA-PACIFIC:
1) Tibet's economy is largely agricultural and dependent of serfs. Not a pleasant place to live as a result, and that of course is compounded by the high altitudes...

2) Burma was briefly attached to the Indian Raj, but it has now been restored to a separate colonial status.

3) Siam is stuck between to opposed great powers and thus is confined to a tight balancing act.

4) The new Chinese regime in Nanjing doesn't get along with any of the great powers, but if they had to pick they'd chose the Americans.

5) Russian Manchuria still has a significant Chinese minority, though Russian settlers have been flooding in lately.

6) Korea has survived as an independent state, though it has drifted into the Russian orbit due to simple geography. Russian Orthodoxy is now the biggest Christian minority group in the country, too, followed by Protestantism and as a relatively distant third Catholicism.

7) Sarawak is a loyal British ally that has supplanted the decaying Bruneian Sultanate.

8) The Philippines, like Cuba and Puerto Rico in the Caribbean, has gained autonomy from Spain, however Mindanao remains under tighter Spanish control. There are some republican clubs in Manila, though most Filipino nationalists have emigrated to the United States or Hong Kong.

9) The Shogunate has endured and the Japanese emperor is confined to his palace in Kyoto. According to some rumors that palace is actually empty and the Tenno has been shipped off to Australia, but thus far there is no evidence for this.

10) Italy's only spoil from the Portuguese collapse, and their only colony outside of Africa. Has a quite profitable lumber industry, actually.

11) New Munster and New Ulster, because when New Zealand joined Australia it was decided to separate the two main islands for administrative ease and increased representation.

12) A united Samoa, albeit under British protection, is better than a partitioned one.

13) The American Sandwich Islands are barely inhabited.

14) Meanwhile the Kingdom of Hawaii is glad to have dodged the Yankee bullet, even if it required British assistance.

15) A random American acquisition, yet America's most important source of guano.

16) Expanded quite a bit throughout the late 19th century.